Relationships are the foundation of social networks, social media and ultimately, social marketing.
Travel organizations must realize that like interpersonal relationships, it also takes time to develop lasting customer relationships. Relevance, Engagement, Honesty & Trust are the four cornerstones when establishing an enduring social graph – the same factors that heavily influence who becomes friends during High School.
John Cusack in the 1989 film Say Anything... Showing relationships sometimes involve risks. Photo courtesy EW.com
In the five years since the dawn of Web 2.0, it seems social media has successfully passed through the turmoil of adolescence and is now determining what path it will follow when it finally grows up.
As Say Anything… is a seminal coming of age movie about the complexities of teenage relationships, it might be interesting to to see if any parallels can be drawn between the perspectives on relationships provided in the film and business-customer dynamics in social media relationships.
It turns out the parallels between the stages of education, development of personal relationships and the evolution of social media are significant.
Breaking down the development of the Internet into five year periods enables the comparison of these stages to relative phases in educational and online technology maturation: continue reading →
